Youth Court CLE Presentation in Philadelphia, April 23, 2014
The Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Pro Bono Office, in partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Youth Court Support Center at Education Works, held a free Youth Court CLE seminar on April 23, 1-4 p.m. at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 615 Chestnut Street, 8th Floor Conference Room, in Philadelphia. The seminar featured distinguished speakers from the legal, educational and medical communities who explored youth courts as a preventative strategy to reduce violence and terminate the school-to-prison pipeline. Click on the following links for more information.

Jennifer Kaur Koch Receives Third Annual Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award, June 1, 2013
Jennifer Kaur Koch, a 2013 graduate of Swarthmore College, received the third annual Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award on Sunday, June 1, 2013. She was honored by the Legal Services to the Public Committee and the Pro Bono Office of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for her work supporting high school student run youth courts which are gaining popularity in the Chester Upland and Philadelphia schools. Read more.

Pennsylvania Department of Education Letter of Support for Youth Courts
Read the March 20, 2013, letter from Sally M. Flaherty, social studies advisor with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, to Gregory Volz of the Stoneleigh Foundation.

Resource: Stoneleigh Foundation, 2012The Stoneleigh Foundation works to improve the life outcomes of vulnerable and under-served children and youth, targeting young people in the child-welfare and juvenile justice systems. According to lawyer Gregory Volz, a Stoneleigh fellow, youth courts reduce the number of youth in the juvenile justice system and foster youth development and academic achievement.

PBA President Testifies in Support of Youth Courts, June 19, 2012
PBA President Thomas G. Wilkinson Jr. testified before the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Public Safety in favor of the establishment of youth courts on June 19, 2012. Read Wilkinson's testimony. Read a compilation of the testimony in support of youth courts. Read the Philadelphia City Council resolution of April 12, 2102, authorizing the committee hearings. Read the June 21, 2012, Philadelphia City Council citation "Honoring and Recognizing The Youth Courts Founders and Supporters." Shown below, Wilkinson meets with Talia Santiago, a junior from Kensington Culinary High School and a member of that school's youth court who testified in support of youth courts.

Sofia Saiyed Receives Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award, May 18, 2012
Sofia Saiyed, a 2010 graduate of Swarthmore College, received the second annual Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award on May 18, 2012. She was honored by the Legal Services to the Public Committee and the Pro Bono Office of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for her work at the college supporting youth courts in the Chester Upland and Philadelphia schools. Read more.

Youth Courts Paper Presented March 16, 2012
As part of the 2012 Edward V. Sparer Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Gregg Volz, a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow and public interest lawyer, David K. Trevaskis, PBA pro bono coordinator, and Rachel Miller, a third year law student at Penn, presented a paper describing the support that lawyers, especially the PBA, have provided to the youth courts movement. Click here for the paper, titled "Coming of Age Against the Odds: Advocating for At-Risk Youth," as posted to the Penn law website.

Project PEACE
Project PEACE is sponsored in Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and the PBA. It works to reduce conflicts and violence in Pennsylvania elementary schools by teaching children how to discuss and mediate their disagreements peacefully. Youth courts are an important element of Project PEACE.

PBA Resolution on Youth Courts
In May 2011, the PBA Board of Governors and House of Delegates unanimously passed a resolution "encourage[ing passage of Youth-Court legislation and] support[ing] the public/private partnership to expand and improve the sustainability of Youth Courts across Pennsylvania." Read the resolution.

Shilpa Boppana Receives Inaugural Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award
Shilpa Boppana, a 2011 graduate of Swarthmore College and a former intern with the founder of the Chester youth court program, received the inaugural Swarthmore College Edgar and Jean Camper Cahn Law and Social Justice Award on May 29, 2011. Click here for more on Boppana and photos from the award event.

New York State Youth Court 2010 Best Practices Manual
If you're interested in youth courts, check out “Recommended Practices for Youth Courts: A Manual for New York Youth Court Coordinators and Practitioners.” The March 2010 manual is available for review and download at http://www.courtinnovation.org/_uploads/documents/Youth_Court_Manual.pdf. Its 121 pages are based on a literature search, site visits to selected New York State youth courts and a survey of youth courts.

Spring 2009 Article and Developments in Chester, Pa.
Among those attending the 2007 Outreach to Children Summit described below was a group of law and justice professionals and educators from the City of Chester, who took up Higgins' challenge that Pennsylvania should have a broad network of teen courts and who have spent the last three years developing and implementing such a court at Chester High School. For more information on youth courts, click here for an article from the spring 2009 issue of the Juvenile and Family Court Journal.

In an exciting extension to the program in Chester, the 2009-10 school year has seen the creation at of an elective Street Law class Chester High to expand the reach of the youth court with extra activities, including participation in the 27th annual Statewide Mock Trial Competition sponsored by the PBA Young Lawyers Division.
Plans are also moving forward for the unveiling of a Law Academy at Chester High in 2010-11, which will be a reflection of the civic education outreach of Pennsylvania First Lady and 3rd U.S. Circuit Judge Midge Rendell. Delaware County Bar President Bruce Rodger is among those leading local efforts to develop support for the Law Academy.

2007 Event: Outreach to Children Summit; Children & Families in the System
During the Interdisciplinary Children's Summit convened in May 2007 by then-PBA President Kenneth Horoho, Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins presented an informational session on teen courts, a juvenile justice intervention that allows youth who have violated the norms of society, whether in school or beyond, to be adjudicated before a peer jury. Go to http://www.pabar.org/public/committees/childini/summit.asp for event links, including a link to Higgins' PowerPoint on this topic (Teen Court Model, Presentation by William J. Higgins Jr., District Attorney, Bedford County).